After China scandal, random melamine tests in U.S. are planned

Processed meat and poultry products — including some of kids' favorite foods — will be pulled from grocery shelves nationwide for limited, random tests for melamine, an industrial chemical that spawned a worldwide food scandal after more than 50,000 children in China became sick from drinking tainted milk produced by China's dairy industry.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday ordered spot checks on such perennial kid favorites as breaded chicken nuggets, hot dogs, packaged meatballs, pizza snacks and other processed foods that contain milk-based ingredients.

The testing notice, which also covers baby food containing "significant" amounts of meat or poultry, does not specify a brand or make any distinction between domestic or imported products.

The USDA will randomly test 45 samples a week from retail stores throughout the country, according to a notice issued by the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service. Testing is expected to begin in about two weeks, and will last for 12 weeks.

The foods were singled out because they contain milk-based ingredients such as cheese, dried milk, casein and whey. The ingredients have been linked to contamination in foods and candies manufactured with milk from China.

USDA spokeswoman Amanda Eamich said the tests were ordered as "an abundance of caution," and were linked to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent decision to stop the import of products from China that contain milk-based ingredients unless the manufacturer can show they are not contaminated.

Eamich said testing will not be limited to products containing milk ingredients from China because the agency has no way of knowing the origin of the ingredients used in the manufacturing process.

The agency became involved in testing, she said, because it regulates meat and poultry.

The FDA initially compiled a list of banned products in October, but then issued an import alert last month to cover all products from China containing milk-based ingredients.

Recently, the agency acknowledged that trace amounts of melamine and related chemicals were found in two infant formulas manufactured in the United States. It could not explain how the contamination occurred, but insisted the formulas are safe.

Melamine is a nitrogen-based chemical widely used in plastics manufacturing. It entered the milk supply in China earlier this year when some dairy manufacturers added it to diluted milk to artificially inflate protein levels for testing. The chemical and its analogs also turned up in animal feed.

Consumed in sufficient quantities, melamine can lead to kidney failure or even death. The FDA has established what it says are safe levels of the chemical.

Susan Kelleher: 206-464-2508 or skelleher@seattletimes.com